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Are Wetlands as an Integrated Bioremediation System Applicable for the Treatment of Wastewater from Underground Coal Gasification Processes?

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  • Jacek Borgulat

    (Environmental Microbiology Unit, Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas, Kossutha 6 Str., 40-844 Katowice, Poland)

  • Katarzyna Ponikiewska

    (Department of Energy Saving and Air Protection, Central Mining Institute, Plac Gwarków 1, 40-166 Katowice, Poland)

  • Łukasz Jałowiecki

    (Environmental Microbiology Unit, Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas, Kossutha 6 Str., 40-844 Katowice, Poland)

  • Aleksandra Strugała-Wilczek

    (Department of Energy Saving and Air Protection, Central Mining Institute, Plac Gwarków 1, 40-166 Katowice, Poland)

  • Grażyna Płaza

    (Environmental Microbiology Unit, Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas, Kossutha 6 Str., 40-844 Katowice, Poland)

Abstract

Underground coal gasification (UCG) can be considered as one of the clean coal technologies. During the process, the gas of industrial value is produced, which can be used to produce heat and electricity, liquid fuels or can replace natural gas in chemistry. However, UCG does carry some environmental risks, mainly related to potential negative impacts on surface and groundwater. Wastewater and sludge from UCG contain significant amounts of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, ammonia, cyanides and hazardous metals such as arsenic. This complicated matrix containing high concentrations of hazardous pollutants is similar to wastewater from the coke industry and, similarly to them, requires complex mechanical, chemical and biological treatment. The focus of the review is to explain how the wetlands systems, described as one of bioremediation methods, work and whether these systems are suitable for removing organic and inorganic contaminants from heavily contaminated industrial wastewater, of which underground coal gasification wastewater is a particularly challenging example. Wetlands appear to be suitable systems for the treatment of UCG wastewater and can provide the benefits of nature-based solutions. This review explains the principles of constructed wetlands (CWs) and provides examples of industrial wastewater treated by various wetland systems along with their operating principles. In addition, the physicochemical characteristics of the wastewater from different coal gasifications under various conditions, obtained from UCG’s own experiments, are presented.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacek Borgulat & Katarzyna Ponikiewska & Łukasz Jałowiecki & Aleksandra Strugała-Wilczek & Grażyna Płaza, 2022. "Are Wetlands as an Integrated Bioremediation System Applicable for the Treatment of Wastewater from Underground Coal Gasification Processes?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-19, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:12:p:4419-:d:841310
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Magdalena Pankiewicz-Sperka & Krzysztof Kapusta & Wioleta Basa & Katarzyna Stolecka, 2021. "Characteristics of Water Contaminants from Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) Process—Effect of Coal Properties and Gasification Pressure," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-12, October.
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    4. Krzysztof Kapusta, 2021. "Effect of Lignite Properties on Its Suitability for the Implementation of Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) in Selected Deposits," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-11, September.
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